Ukraine agrees defense deal with Germany to help in fight against Russia

BERLIN (AP) — Ukraine and Germany are starting work on plans for the joint production of advanced drones and other battle-tested defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, as Kyiv looks to scale up its more than four-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion.

“We have proposed to Germany a bilateral drone deal covering various types of drones, missiles, software and modern defense systems. Our teams are starting concrete work,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a visit to Berlin.

Merz said that Germany’s commitment to supporting Kyiv's war effort is “a very clear signal” to Russia.

“We will not waver in our efforts to defend Ukraine,” he said.

U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war on its neighbor have recently petered out as the Iran war grips the Trump administration’s attention, although Tammy Bruce, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that Washington “will continue to push for a negotiated and durable end” to the war.

Russia has occupied about 20% of Ukraine so far. That includes the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in 2014.

Ukraine has the capacity to produce twice as much military equipment as it's currently deploying, but lacks funding to step up production, according to Zelenskyy.

“We simply don’t have enough money,” he said.

A key to unlocking that potential lies in obtaining a promised loan of 90 billion euros ($106 billion) from the European Union, which had been held up by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, but his impending departure from office after a weekend election could now free up the money.

Ukraine needs those funds “urgently,” Merz said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who accompanied Zelenskyy to Berlin, said Germany and Ukraine agreed a defense package valued at 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion). The agreement is “a massive boost” for Ukraine's air defense against Russian barrages, Fedorov said on X, allowing Kyiv to buy “several hundred” American-made Patriot missiles.

After Berlin, Zelenskyy was due to visit Norway, another important financial and military ally, while defense leaders from the 50-plus partner nations who regularly gather to coordinate weapons aid for Kyiv will hold an online meeting Wednesday, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.

Kyiv is heavily reliant on U.S. intelligence for targeting inside Russia and needs more sophisticated American-made air defense systems to stop Russian missile attacks on its power grid. If the Iran war drags on, it could erode vital U.S. support for Kyiv, Zelenskyy fears.

Furthermore, the Ukrainian army is short-handed, facing around 200,000 troop desertions and draft-dodging by around 2 million people, Fedorov said in January.

Germany will help Kyiv facilitate the return home of Ukrainian men of military age, Merz said.

“We need rapid, tangible progress here,” he said.

Domestically developed unmanned platforms are playing a vital role in holding back Russia's invasion. Ukraine makes air and sea drones, missiles that have reached around 1,750 kilometers (1,000 miles) into Russia, as well as battlefield robots that help make up for its troop shortage.

Ukraine has been approached about security cooperation, especially battle-tested drone production, by eight Middle East and Gulf countries, as well as Turkey, Iraq and countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Despite its handicaps, Western analysts and officials say Ukraine has in recent months recorded battlefield successes against Russia’s bigger army, disrupting a spring offensive started by Russia amid improving weather, as fields dry out and new foliage on tree lines offers more cover.

Meanwhile, the long-range drones and missiles that Kyiv designs and produces are repeatedly striking oil facilities and manufacturing plants deep inside Russia.

Ukraine “is in a much better place than it has been at any stage in this horrific war,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday.

Ukraine “is on top from a military perspective,” Stubb said, noting that last month Ukraine fired more drones and missiles at Russia than vice versa.

Moscow has also claimed progress on the battlefield. Independent verification of each side’s claims wasn't possible.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukraine city of Dnipro killed four people and left 21 hospitalized with injuries, 10 of them in serious condition, regional authorities said Tuesday.

The city’s attorney general’s office said the victims, all civilians, were driving or walking past the scene of the strike in the city, 485 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

Elsewhere, a 52-year-old woman was killed in a Russian drone strike in the southern city of Kherson that also left one man seriously wounded, authorities said.

Hanna Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Derek Gatopoulos contributed to this report from Kyiv.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attend a press conference at the German-Ukrainian government consultations in Berlin Germany, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

German chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for German-Ukrainian government consultations in Berlin Germany, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for German-Ukrainian government consultations in Berlin Germany, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

German chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomes Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for German-Ukrainian government consultations in Berlin Germany, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At least 37 people have been killed following a Russian attack on the Bucha district, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, officials said Saturday.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of the local regional military administration, said that at least 50 residential buildings had been damaged in the attack, which also sparked a large-scale fire that spread to homes and a restaurant.

In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a warehouse had been struck in the village of Myla “followed by a detonation.”

He did not give details on the site, but wrote in the same message that criminal proceedings had been opened on charges of official negligence.

“There are regulations in place – ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian leader wrote that a care home for elderly people and people with disabilities and residential buildings were damaged.

“More than 370 people have already been evacuated, and the evacuation is ongoing,” he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi also didn't offer information on the warehouse targeted, but referenced an attack on the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve earlier in the month, which hit an ammunition depot, killing 22 and triggering large detonations and fires that tore through nearby homes.

“Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson,” Koretskyi said. “In the fifth year of a full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes is criminal negligence. And all those guilty, without exception, must be severely punished so that such situations do not happen again.”

In a statement, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that it had hit a warehouse in Myla storing components and launch boosters for long-range drones. It also said that it had attacked the ports of Mykolaiv and Izmail, as well as a logistics center and warehouse facilities storing parts for Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles in the Kyiv region.

Almost constant air raids in Kyiv have now reached their third day, choking the economy in the Ukrainian capital and severely disrupting civilian life more than 4½ years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Elsewhere, Russian attacks across Ukraine’s southern Kherson region Saturday killed two people and wounded 27 more, a local official said.

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the region administration, said that attacks had damaged homes and apartment blocks, and that one child was among the injured.

Earlier in the week, Prokudin said that Russia has intensified attacks on critical infrastructure in the region, which is about 70% under Russian control. He also urged tens of thousands of residents to move to safer regions because of the possibility of prolonged power and heating outages this winter.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire in a warehouse following a Russian drone attack near Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire in a warehouse following a Russian drone attack near Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)